Facebook Aims to Help 50M People Globally Get the Covid-19 Vaccine

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the social network’s plans to bring 50 million people worldwide one step closer to receiving Covid-19 vaccines. Zuckerberg said in a post early Monday morning, “We've already connected over 2 billion people to authoritative Covid-19 information. Now that many countries are moving toward vaccinations for all adults, we're working on tools to make it easier for everyone to get vaccinated, as well.” Facebook teamed up with Boston Children’s Hospital on a tool to help U.S. users learn nearby places where they can get vaccinated. Locations are provided by VaccineFinder and include contact information, hours of operation and links to make appointments. The tool can be accessed via Facebook’s Coronavirus (Covid-19) Information Center, and it will be supported in 71 languages, with plans to expand it to other countries as the availability of vaccines grows. The Coronavirus (Covid-19) Information Center was rolled out globally on Instagram Monday, after being introduced on Facebook last March, giving Instagrammers access to information from local health authorities and the World Health Organization. Instagram users will see notifications at the top of their feeds starting Monday, directing them to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Information Center. In Chile, France, Germany, India, the U.K. and the U.S., reliable information from trusted health experts based on location will be available via the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Information Center, including eligibility for the vaccine, tips on prevention and content disproving myths about the vaccine. In the coming weeks, more will be added including information on where people can get vaccinated and how many cases are in their area. A new sticker for Instagram Stories will roll out in the coming weeks, connecting directly to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Information Center, so that people can show their support and share accurate information. Some 3 billion messages have been sent to date by governments, international organizations and nonprofits to citizens via chatbots on messaging application WhatsApp, and Facebook said it is working directly with governments and health authorities to use those bots to help register people for vaccines. Facebook continues to add labels to posts about Covid-19 vaccines to provide additional information from the WHO. Since expanding the list of false claims related to the vaccine in its policy, 2 million more pieces of content have been removed from Facebook and Instagram, the majority of which had previously been subject to warning screens. The social network also continues to provide free ads to health-focused organizations and ministries of health so that they can share their own guidance. The company is supporting the United Nations’ “Only Together” campaign, which calls for fair and equitable access to vaccines globally, and Facebook will begin showing in-feed informational messages in the coming days to promote content posted by health organizations participating in the campaign. In the coming weeks, Facebook will add labels to all posts generally about Covid-19 vaccines, pointing people to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Information Center, and additional, targeted labels will be added to posts about subtopics. If someone on Facebook or Instagram tris to share a post that contains an informational label on the Covid-19 vaccine, they will see an additional screen with more information in order to provide them with context on what they are about to share. The social network is adding new data and insights on vaccine attitudes to its Data for Good Covid-19 map and dashboard, saying that the top two reasons respondents to the surveys conducted by its partners at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Maryland give for not wanted to get vaccinated are fear of side effects and waiting to see if vaccines are safe. Facebook is also making it easier to track how Covid-19 vaccine information is being spread on social media via Covid-19 Live Displays from CrowdTangle, for 104 countries and all 50 states. Zuckerberg wrote, “The data shows that the vaccines are safe and they work. They're our best hope for getting past this virus and getting back to normal life. I'm looking forward to getting mine, and I hope you are, too.”